3  5;i.s 


III.  Legis.)  H.  R.  S   Hth  Assem. 


APPROPRIATIOIN  TO  COUNTIES,  &c. 


January  2,  1839. 

Read,  and  laid  on  the  table. 


Mr.  Smith,  of  Wabash,  from  the  Committee  on  Internal  Improvements? 

made  the  following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  on  Internal  Improvements^  to  ivhich  was  referred  n  bill  for 
'•''An  act  for  the  benefit  of  the  counties  therein  named ^^''  report  the  same 
hack  to  the  House,  and  recommend  its  rejection  for  the  following  reasons: 

1st.  That  $200,000  appropriated  by  the  fifteenth  division  of  the  eigh- 
teenth section  of  the  internal  improvement  act,  to  be  distributed  to  the 
several  counties  through  which  no  railroad  or  canal  was.authorized  by  that 
act  to  be  constructed,  is  vested  in  the  original  counties  intended  bj  said 
act  to  receive  the  same,  and  cannot  justly  be  withdiawn  from  them,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  for  the  purpose  of  being  granted  to  other  counties. 

2d.  That  new  counties,  which  have  been  formed,  since  the  passage  of 
said  act,  out  of  counties  originally  entitled  to  receive  a  distributive  share 
of  this  appropriation,  should  claim  their  proportionate  share  of  the  amounts 
received  or  receivable  by  the  original  coimty  out  of  which  they  have  been 
formed. 

3d.  That  counties,  which  have  been  sepa,rated  from  original  counties 
through  which  railroads  or  canals  were  authorized  to  be  constructed,  have 
so  separated  in  their  own  wrong,  and  cannot  now  claim  the  right  of  re- 
ceiving a  distributive  share  of  the  original  appropriation,  and  thereby 
lessen  the  amount  intended  by  the  act  to  be  paid  to  other  counties. 

The  committee  express  no  opinion  as  to  the  justice  or  expediency  of 
the  counties  named  in  the  bill  being  entitled  to  claim  an  appropriation 
similar  to  that  granted  in  the  above  iccitcd  act  to  other  counties  similarly 
situated  las  to  the  location  of  the  public  works,  but  confine  their  objec- 
tions to  the  features  of  the  present  bill,  which  require  payments  to  be 
made  to  them  out  of  moneys  which  the  committee  entertain  the  opinion 
arc  now  already  appropriated  and  vested  in  otiier  counties. 


\\ 


III.  Legis.  "i  H.    R.  S  ^^"^^  Assem. 


FUGITIVE   SLAVES. 


January  5,  1839. 

Read,  and  the  further  consideration  thereof  postponed  until  the  Hth  January. 


Mr.  FisK,  from  the  Committee  on  the  Judicary,  made  the  following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  on  the  Juiiciary,  to  which  loas  referred  a  communication 
from  thi'  Governor  of  Giorqin^  relative  to  n  correspondence  beliueen  the 
Governor  of  Georgia  and  the  Governor  of  M.iinr,  upon  the  refusal  of  the 
Governor  of  Mxine  to  deliver  up  Daniel  Philbrook  and  Edward  Kclleram, 
citizensof  the  Stats  of  Miine,  and  figitives  f  om  justice — being  charged 
with  the  secret  a" d  fe/onious  abduction,  front  the  city  of  Savannah^  of  a 
negro  slave  named  Atlicus,  the  property  of  Jamr.s  and  Henry  Sagurs^ 
report : 

That  said  committee  have  given  the  subject  all  the  attention  which  might 
be  expected  from  the  nature  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  said  cor- 
respondence, and  wojld  express  a  deep  regret  that  any  attempt  should 
ever  be  made  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  the  free  State?  to  interfere, 
in  any  manner  whatever,  with  the  rights  of  the  citiz3ns  of  the  slavcaold- 
ing  States.  Said  committee  consider  the  holding  of  slaves  as  a  coistitu- 
tional  privilege,  guarantied  to  the  slaveholding  States  by  the  articles  of 
confederation,  and  that  any  attempt  by  the  free  States  to  interfere  wkth 
the  rights  of  the  slaveholder  would  be  a  violation  of  a  right  which  ought 
to  be  held  as  sacred  as  any  oL her  portion  of  tlie  Constitution.  Said  com- 
mittee look  upon  the  cause  of  the  abolitionist  as  one  that  is  carried  on 
through  the  intemperate  zeal  of  misguided  philanthropists;  and,  while 
their  professed  object  is  to  ameliorate  or  better  the  condition  of  a  portion 
of  the  human  family,  the  means  which  they  adopt  are  calculated  to  lcg,d 
to  an  entirely  different  result. 

It  is  not  the  intention  or  desire  of  this  committee  to  say  any  thing  that 
might  wound  the  feelings  of  any  of  our  fellow-citizsns,  but  only  to  express 
a  deep  regret  that  such  questions  should  be  aijitated  to  distract  the  peace 
and  quiet  of  the  nation.  Said  committee  would  not  desire  to  condemn 
the  State  of  Maine  as  u  State  willing  and  disp.)^ed  to  encourage  a  poUcj 
which  ought  to  be  viewed  as  a  moral  and  political  pestilence,  (which,  if 
encouraged  and  suH'ercd  to  go  unchecked,  would,  in  its  tendency,  spread 
devastation  and  ruin  over  the  land,)  until  the  Executive  of  that  State  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  explain  the  course  which  he  has  seen  cause  to 
pursue.     To  prevent  any  undue  excitement  of  the  people  of  the  south, 


and  to  save  their  feelings  from  being  wantonly  outraged  from  any  of  the 
misguided  fanatics  of  the  north  who  might  be  determined,  in  defiance  of 
sound  policy  and  the  dictates  of  honest  patriotism,  and  of  the  principles  of 
constitutional  law, to  keep  up  an  excitement  in  relation  to  a  certain  species 
of  property,  with  which  no  interference  from  the  free  States  ought  to 
be  encouraged,  this  committee  would  respectfully  recommend  for  adoption 
the  following  resolutions: 

1.  Resolved,  That  we  consider  the  refusal  of  the  Executive  of  any  State 
to  deliver  up,  or  cause  to  be  delivered  up,  upon  the  demand  of  the  Exec- 
utive of  any  other  State,  any  person  who  may  be  charged  with  the  com- 
mission of  a  crime  against  the  laws  of  the  latter  State,  and  shall  hiixe  fled 
therefrom,  not  only  as  dangerous  to  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  in  general,  but  clearly  and  directly  in  violation  of  the  plain 
letter  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  is  in  the  following 
words,  to  wit:  "A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or 
other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another  State, 
shall,  on  demand  of  the  Executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he 
fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the 


crime." 


2.  Resolved,  That  each  State,  as  a  member  of  this  confederacy,  by  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  became  a  party  thereto,  no  less, for 
the  better  protection  of  their  own  than  the  common  rights  and  interests 
of  all;  and  as  such  membeis  of  the  confederacy,  a  free  State  or  its  citi- 
zens ought  not  to  interfere  with  the  property  of  slaveholding  States;  which 
property  has  been  guarantied  unto  them  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  and  without  such  guaranty,  this  Union,  perhaps^  would  never  have 
been  formed. 


LL.  Legis.    )  H.  R.  {    Urn  Assem 


ALBION  AND    GRAYVILLE  RAILROAD. 


January  2,  1839. 

Read,  and  referred  to  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  House. 


Mr.  Smith  of  Wabash,  from  the  Committee  on   Internal  Improvements, 

made  the  following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  on  Internal  Improvements,  to  which  was  referred  a  bill  for 
^'•An  act  to  incorporate  the  Albion  and  Grayville  Railroad  Company,'''' 
report : 

That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  it  is  inexpedient  for  the  Legis- 
lature to  authorize  corporations  or  individutils  to  construct  railroads  or 
canals  calculated  to  come  into  direct  competition  with  similar  works  now 
in  a  course  of  construction  under  the  State  system  of  internal  improve- 
ment. It  is  well  known  that  there  exists  an  honest  difference  of  opinion 
in  regard  to  the  policy  and  probable  revenue  to  be  derived  from  the  State 
works;  and,  therefore,  the  committee  deem  it  unwise  for  the  Legislature, 
in  the  infancy  of  the  system,  to  abstract,  from  any  portion  of  her  own  pub- 
lic works,  the  profits  and  receipts  upon  which  the  friends  and  advocates 
of  the  system  have  predicated  their  support  of  it,  and  thus  impair  the 
confidence  of  the  people  in  its  ultimate  success. 

The  committee  are  free  to  admit  that  there  may  be  extreme  cases  in 
which,  in  the  adoption  of  the  State  system,  the  wants  of  some  porlions  of 
the  people  have  been  unavoidably  left  unprovided  for,  which  might  justify 
a  departure  from  this  salutary  rule  of  legislative  action.  In  the  case,  how- 
ever, now  under  consideration,  the  country  proposed  to  be  accomnn  dated 
by  therailioad  mentioned  in  the  bill  is  already  provided  (or  in  tiicsjstem, 
and  the  State  improvement  is  in  a  state  of  forwardness  approximating  to 
completion. 

The  committee  would  take  this  occasion  to  draw  a  marked  distinction 
between  the  construction,  by  companies,  of  lateral  brai'ches  of  niihouds 
from  the  interior  to  intersect  the  State  improvements,  and  thereby  throw 
trade  and  travel  upon  the  latter,  and  those  works  calculated  to  withdraw 
the  business  fiom  the  main  lines,  and  thus  reduce  the  revenue  which  the 
State  would  otherwise  receive. 


It  is  true  that  there  is  a  provision  in  the  bill  under  consideration,  reserv- 
ing to  the  State  the  privilege  of  purchasing  the  road  under  certain  restric- 
tions. But  as  objections  are  urged  against  the  State  system  on  account 
of  its  magnitude  and  probable  cost,  it  seems  to  the  committee  that  the 
granting  of  charters  at  present,  with  the  view  of  augmenting  this  objection, 
would  be  impolitic. 

The  committee,  entertaining  these  views  of  the  subject,  do,  on  general 
principles  of  State  poUcj  alone,  and  not  with  any  hostility  to  this  par- 
ticular bill,  report  the  same  back  to  the  House,  and  recommend  its  rejec- 
tion. 


III.  Legis.    [        '  H.    R.  JUthAssem. 


RAILROAD— DES    MOINES   RAPIDS. 


January  12,  1839. 
Read,  and  concurred  in. 


Mr.  Smith  of  Wabash,  from  the  Committee  on  Internal  Improvements, 

made  the  following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  on  Internal  Improvements,  to  zvhich  was  referred  a  resolution 
instructing  them  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  constructing  a  railroad 
from  the  head  of  the  Des  Moines  rapids  to  the  intersection  of  the  Peoria  and 
Warsaw  railroad,  report: 

That  they  have  had  the  subject  under  their  consideration;  and  upon 
the  investigation  of  the  probable  amount  of  business  which  would  be 
done  upon  the  proposed  improvement,  and  the  public  accommodation  to 
result  from  its  construction,  its  importance  cannot  be  questioned.  The 
Des  Moines  rapids,  for  several  months  in  the  year,  present  a  very  formi- 
dable barrier  to  the  navigation,  and  render  a  portage  round  them,  for  the 
immense  trade  of  the  river,  indispensably  necessary.  As  the  trade  on 
the  river  must  rapidly  increase  with  the  settlement  of  the  country  drained 
by  this  great  river  and  its  tributaries,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  this  im- 
portant portage  will  continue  long  to  be  overcome  in  the  expensive  man- 
ner it  now  is,  but  that  the  public  convenisnce  will  demand  a  railroad  or 
canal  either  in  Illinois  or  Iowa. 

The  committee,  however,  are  unwilling,  notwithstanding  the  great 
importance  of  this  work,  to  recommend  its  construction  by  the  State  at 
present;  but  they  will  express  their  belief  that  it  is  one  of  numerous 
cases,  in  which  the  concentration  of  individual  capital  may  very  properly 
be  authorized  by  the  Legislature  to  effect  the  object,  reserving  to  the 
Sta'e  the  privilege  of  purchasing  the  improvement,  whenever,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Legislature,  the  public  good  requires  it  to  be  done.  The 
work  does  not,  in  any  manner,  conflict  with  the  State  works,  but  on  the 
contrary  is  calculated  to  throw  trade  on  the  latter. 

They  therefore  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of 
the  subject  so  far  as  it  is  proposed  to  construct  the  work  by  the  State. 


